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To people outside the UK : Do you recognise this man? (thelemmy.club)
submitted 1 day ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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I've been informed that people outside UK generally don't know or care (not caring is the correct response BTW.).

Still seems bizarre to me.

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[–] 10 points 1 day ago (4 children)

German here. He's super famous in Germany. I used to think he was an international superstar and only learned a couple of years ago that nobody knows him in the US. Still don't quite understand how that happened. How is "Feel" and "Angels" not stuck in everyone's head every once in a while?

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  • [–] 3 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

    His people made multiple attempts to break in America. It's just... bad music. Has a distinct "Eurosheen" that isn't inherently a negative at all, but is something that traditionally hasn't sold well with American audiences.

    So I just want to be clear: American audiences weren't unexposed to Robbie Williams, American audiences flatly rejected Robbie Williams.

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  • [–] 2 points 20 hours ago (1 child)

    Sure, Europeans just have bad taste in music, while Americans have good taste in music. That explains everything.

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  • [–] 1 point 19 hours ago* (1 child)

    No, an aesthetic difference in preference. I should have made a clearer distinction: it has the Brit-pop sound that historically hasn't been an automatic appeal for American audiences as a barrier of entry going against him, and beyond that aesthetic difference Robbie Williams specifically does not make good enough music to have overcome said aesthetic barrier where other artists such as Spice Girls successfully have.

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  • [–] 2 points 19 hours ago (1 child)

    What makes the Spice Girls better than Robbie Williams?

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  • [–] 2 points 18 hours ago (1 child)

    A question for the ages. I am not the gatekeeper, just trying to explain the phenomenon. No amount of arguing with me is going to suddenly make Robbie a retroactive success magically

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  • [–] 1 point 17 hours ago

    It's just that it's a really odd "explanation". Good and bad depends a lot on who you ask. Millions of people would probably disagree with your judgement. I'm neither a Robbie Williams fan nor a music expert, but I'm pretty sure "his music is just bad" is not a valid explanation for the phenomenon.

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